UF\u2019s LaVilla graduate campus hosts site tour for over 50 interested developers<\/a><\/p>\nJustice, a downtown resident, said he could see potential benefits.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can also see the economic benefits of new construction,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s going to bring jobs opportunity too because people need to work. So new construction brings new jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
But residents and stakeholders have also raised questions about affordability, infrastructure and preserving LaVilla\u2019s history as the project advances.<\/p>\n
Kert Dudas, Vice President for the UF Office for Strategic Initiatives, wants to build in a way that respects the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we want to do is make sure that we are building in this neighborhood in a way that honors the cultural significance and history of the community in LaVilla,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The parcel sits next to the Prime Osborn complex, a landmark that has been the subject of ongoing public discussion about its long-term future as downtown redevelopment plans evolve.<\/p>\n
Colin Tarbert, the DIA\u2019s CEO, said the plans include retaining the historic train station portion of the Prime Osborn while redeveloping the broader site as part of UF\u2019s campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can just talk about the existing Prime Osborne and the plans to retain the historic train station portion, but then the rest of the site would be redeveloped into UF\u2019s campus,\u201d Tarbert said.<\/p>\n
Dudas said UF\u2019s initial campus work will begin with renovation, not demolition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can understand concerns around new development requiring demolition first. And that is not what we are doing here,\u201d he said. \u201cThe first building we will occupy is the two-story building at 801 Bay Street, which we are renovating and will open later this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
The DIA\u2019s vote begins the 30-day notice period. If no higher responsive proposal is received during that window, staff could move forward with finalizing disposition terms consistent with the previously approved redevelopment agreement.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla.\u00a0 \u2013 Jacksonville\u2019s Downtown Investment Authority voted 6-0 Wednesday to begin a public notice process for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,2511,2512],"class_list":["post-196977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-uf","tag-university-of-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}